Yaoi Press is the number one publisher of global yaoi manga in North America. What separates us from other major Western publishers of yaoi is that most of our books are not reprints from Japan and Korea.

MISSION

Yaoi Press seeks to publish yaoi manga graphic novels of the highest caliber.

SUBMISSION

Please do not submit to Yaoi Press if you are under the age of 18.

Licensing and Reprints

Yaoi Press is interested in reprinting quality yaoi manga that is not currently available in English. We can not consider work based on someone else's copywritten material. Please make initial contact through info(at)yaoipress.com.

Original English Language Yaoi

These guidelines were updated on February 17, 2009.

At the top of every submission please indicate whether your submission is rated 'Adults Only' or 'Mature Readers.' Also provide us your estimated page count for the completed work.

Yaoi Press books are printed from left to right. Graphic novel artists should download this Photoshop® Template. The template is provided so that if your work is accepted you don't have to reformat it. Please don't send links to samples at this resolution.

We can not publish work based on someone else's copywritten material.		We do not publish shota.
We do not consider projects with anthropomorphic characters. (Kemonomimi is allowed.)		Do not send email attachments.
Do not send us links to download samples.		We will not disclose payment terms until we are interested in working with you.

Unless we sent you an email solicitation offering you a project, we are not willing to answer a message with a list of pre-submission questions. Everything open for discussion prior to getting us interested in your work is covered in these guidelines.

Most books published by Yaoi Press are designated 'Mature Readers' meaning they must be appropriate for readers aged 16 and older. We seek to publish more 'Adult Only' books in the future. We are no longer seeking 'Young Adult' projects.

Creators must be familiar with yaoi and manga in general. Please research by reading some of the yaoi manga titles already out there before submitting to us. A submission that shows us you have not been exposed to the kind of material we publish makes an extremely bad first impression.

Why Most Submissions are Rejected

You sent an email attachment. In this case, your submission was deleted without being looked at. Do not send email attachments.

You submitted something that we don't publish. We are a graphic novel publisher. We do not publish prose novels. Everything we publish must be yaoi. We do not publish hetero, yuri, etc. All Yaoi Press books are drawn in the manga style. If your art work is not in a manga style please do not submit it.

A romance involving the male lead characters must be the central and driving force of every story we publish. Yaoi Press publishes romance novels. The most important part of every story must be how the romance evolves between the two (or more) male lead characters.

Most submissions are rejected because the storyline is not driven by the romance of the two male leads. We are not interested in stories where the romance is incidental to the plot, no matter how stellar that plot may be. The romance must BE the plot.

Examples:

• We are not interested in a murder mystery story where there's evolving sexual tension leading to romance between the two sleuths. The driving force in this story is the mystery they're trying to solve, not their romance. However, we might be interested in a murder mystery where the sleuth is seduced by the man he's trying to prove to the police is the murderer. The driving force in this story is the romance between him and the suspect. The mystery plot would serve to bring conflict and doubt to their romance.
  
  
• We are not interested in a science fiction story where there's evolving sexual tension leading to romance between two spaceship pilots who are trying to liberate their world from an evil empire. The driving force in this story is the interplanetary war, not their romance. However, we might be interested in a story where a space pilot is trying to free his lover from the evil spacelord who has brainwashed him and claimed him as his own lover. The interplanetary war plot becomes the setup to support the central love triangle.
  

Other Preferences -

Avoid school boy stories unless you have a premise that really stands out from other boys love published in this category.

All Yaoi Press publications fall into the romance genre, but most stories fall into subgenres. Of those subgenres, space opera or hard science fiction is the hardest to sell to us. The subgenres that do best for us are gothic, historical, medieval fantasy, realistic/modern day, and anthropological.

Stories can take place any where in the world at any point in history. Our books are a different flavor from most licensed Japanese BL manga. Readers are already getting the standard Japanese BL fare from other publishers. We do well with more unusual subject matter. Most titles we publish are not set in Japan.

Do not use narration. Any text outside of word balloons (except for sound effects) should be the characters' thoughts. Those thoughts should be what they would actually be thinking at that moment, not exposition for the benefit of the reader.

Future Needs

We seek tasteful adults-only or mature-reader works totalling no less than 400 pages for our new single-volume large format books. It is very unlikely we will consider creators without significant published credits for these one-shots. Novices would do better to submit proposals for short stories to be published in our anthologies. We seek 20-50 page hardcore adult stories for our Hentai anthologies, and 30-60 page mature readers stories for our 16+ anthologies.

Artists - In addition to demonstrating solid manga-style sequential art skills, artists must be able to draw beautiful men. Send your submission to info(at)yaoipress.com. Include a link in your email to five or more inked and toned comic book pages done in the manga style. State in your email how many manga pages you can deliver without fail every 30 days. Be honest because this will be the amount we will hold you to in the contract. Include your real name and address, as well as the pseudonym (if any) you would like to be published by. Do not send email attachments.

Writer/Artist - A romance between the two male leads must be central to every story submitted to Yaoi Press. In addition to demonstrating solid manga-style sequential art skills, artists must be able to draw beautiful men. Send your submission to info(at)yaoipress.com. Only submit work that you own that has not previously been published anywhere, including online. Begin by telling us whether your submission is rated Adults Only or Mature Readers. Tell us what the page count is for the completed work. Include a link in your email to pages 1 through 5 of your manga. These pages should be inked, toned, and lettered. Include a complete outline of the story. Tell us how many manga pages you can deliver without fail every 30 days. Be honest because this will be the amount we will hold you to in the contract. Give us the total estimated page count of your project. Include your real name(s) and address(s), as well as the pseudonym (if any) you would like to be published by. Do not send email attachments.

We are no longer seeking bonus stories. Shorter stories will be considered for the anthologies. Please scroll up to read about our current needs. Full-length works should be no less than 400 pages for our new large format one-shots.

Writers - Please query info(at)yaoipress.com with a short synopsis of your project before submitting a full proposal. Please do not send a story teaser. Submit a synopsis which has a beginning, middle, and end. Tell us whether your submission is rated Adults Only or Mature Readers. Tell us what the page count is for the completed work. Please introduce yourself in your email and list any relevant credits. Please see the paragraph above regarding our current needs. Do not send email attachments.

Please be patient. We most actively look at submissions when we have a need to fill.

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